Hogwarts Never Knew What Was Coming
by amyniknak
Summary: What exactly happened on Fred and George's first day at Hogwarts? Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N - This was written for my best friend Kushy's birthday. I was asked to wrote anything to do with Fred or George, so voila, their first day at Hogwarts. I quite like it, there are some parts that went a bit weird, but whatever. Proofread by my little brother, who is 11, to check that an 11 year old really would find this stuff funny, haha. Anyway, hope you like it, and review if you want, haha.

Oh, and I am now aware that Ron said in OotP that he'd never been on the Knight Bus. Oops. For the sake of this story, either pretend he didn't say that, or he repressed the memory or something. Poetic licence and all that.

* * *

**Hogwarts Never Knew What Was Coming**

Molly Weasley didn't think she'd dreaded a day as much as she dreaded this one.

This September the first was bound to be the worst yet. She'd seen three of her eldest sons off to Hogwarts thus far, and of course, had felt sorrow at each of their departures... but this time, that sadness at her babies leaving was coupled with a dreadful anticipation of just what the hell they'd get up to without her there.

From the day they'd been born, Fred and George had been nothing but trouble. When they had been tiny babies, they had done nothing but cry, as of course, babies are inclined to do… but there had been something about them. As soon as she or Arthur had managed to quieten one of the twins, the silence would only last a few seconds, and then the other twin would begin to scream, so that effectively a baby was always crying during their first year. What on Earth possessed Molly to have not one, but two more children after them, she could never explain.

But of course, their mischief hadn't stopped as they got older. In fact, it had intensified. She couldn't turn her back for one second without something going missing, being broken, or both. And when Ron and Ginny had been born, things had got even worse. Because then, the twins had some ready-made followers, who would do their bidding whenever they wished, as they knew no different. Until Ron's teddy bear got turned into a spider. After that, he had kept his distance, preferring to trail after Bill or Charlie instead. Never Percy, though, Molly had noticed with a smile. Percy seemed to be above all the mischief his siblings seemed to adore.

But in spite of every little thing that Fred and George did that drove her absolutely mental; Molly never had the heart to properly reprimand them. Neither did Arthur, but that was for very different reasons. He didn't have it in his character to be a stern parent at all, but Molly did. She supposed that deep down, it was because Fred and George reminded her so strongly of her own brothers Gideon and Fabian, who had died a year or so before Voldemort fell. Besides the fact that they were obviously brothers, they were from an early age as far as Molly could tell, also brilliant wizards. They never seemed to do anything because they felt like it, on whim as it were – every prank they ever did was well thought out in some way, involved careful planning, and more often than not, Molly found herself fighting back the urge to applaud them at the outcome, even if it had resulted in Ron/Ginny/Percy crying in humiliation.

Of course she never did.

And that was precisely why she was not looking forward in the least to sending them away to Hogwarts. It wasn't so much the nervous parent thing (she often thought she had experienced the bulk of that when Bill first went away) but instead, she was incredibly frightened of what the pair would get up to when she wasn't around. For weeks before they left, she had recurring dreams of letters sent home bearing the Hogwarts crest, each of them informing her that her sons were expelled… Arthur of course had told her she was being silly whenever she awoke in a sweat, indignant that they should be educated at home. He had patted her on the back, and told her to go back to sleep, and not worry.

But what did he know, really.

So all too soon, the day that the twins would leave for Hogwarts arrived.

And as always, it was incredibly chaotic.

--

"Fred! George! Get down here now, your breakfasts'll go cold and then you'll go hungry!"

"Mother, have you seen my book? I was reading it just last night, and now it's completely disappeared…"

"Mum, Ginny's crying!"

"Ginny love, come here, calm down."

"Mum, Percy's lost his book and I've lost my Captain badge!"

"Charlie, go look for it yourself, I honestly do not have the time to go searching around this house! I told you both to get ready the night before, what with me having to sort out Fred and George today as well…"

"I bet they've got it, the little bas-"

"Charlie Weasley!"

"Sorry Mum."

"I suppose they have my book as well… honestly, I'm going to –"

Away from the pandemonium erupting in the kitchen, Fred and George carefully tried to navigate from Percy's room, clutching a very boring looking book about the history of magical equipment from the middle ages to the present day.

"What do you think he's going to do then?" Fred asked, sniggering.

"Oh I don't know," George whispered. "He's a feisty one is Percy, and very violent. You know he'll probably kill us."

"Or just tell Mum." Fred said, smirking.

"Anything but that!" George smiled, swooning in a mock faint.

Fred laughed, but then paused.

"We should probably give Charlie his badge back though," he said. "He will actually hurt us if he finds us with it."

"Aw, but I like wearing it," George protested; gesturing to the shining Quidditch Captain badge displayed proudly on his chest. "It suits me, don't you think?"

"Give me a turn with it!" Fred said, grabbing for the badge. "We have to give it back in a minute anyway, so you might as well…"

"No I don't. We can hold onto it a bit longer…"

"No you bloody well can't." came a voice from above them, and George felt a blow to the back of his head.

"Oh, hi Charlie." Fred said, laughing. "I was telling him to give it back…"

"Of course you were." Charlie said, wrestling the badge out of George's hands and pinning it to his own red knitted jumper. "It wasn't you wanting a turn with it then, I suppose. Someone else…"

"Yep." Fred said, nodding. "Anyway, no harm done right? You got it back, no need to beat up your innocent younger brothers…"

"As long as you give Percy his book back," Charlie laughed. "He looks close to tears… so yeah, maybe let him sweat for a bit…"

"Will do!" George said, rubbing the back of his head. "Now what was Mum saying about breakfast, I'm bloody starving, and we have a nice long train journey ahead of us today, accompanied by what will most likely be corned beef sandwiches…"

--

Fred looked at George, who was smiling. He nodded, and said, at the exact same moment as George, for the twenty-seventh time –

"Are we there yet?"

"For heaven's sake, no we aren't!" Molly said, thankful she wasn't seated closer to them. Thank god the Knight Bus was bigger than it looked. "And please twins, can you calm down!"

"It's our first day of Hogwarts." George said.

"We're allowed to be excited." Fred finished.

"Why can't you be more like Percy?" Molly replied, glancing at her more serious son, who was sitting by Charlie, calmly reading the book that had mysteriously reappeared exactly where he had left it, though he had promised he had looked there a thousand times… "Just sit still, will you! And Fred, you do not need to hang your head out of the window like a dog, it's not safe! Honestly!"

"Mum, I feel sick." Ron piped up, and Molly noticed he was indeed looking rather green. Who could blame him though, the way the bus was rocketing along, jerking around…

"He's not going to be sick is he?" Charlie said, shifting further away from his youngest brother. "If he is, keep him away from my damn badge…"

"Language Charlie, please," Arthur reprimanded. "Not in front of Ginny."

"She knows it all already." Fred laughed. "Don't you Gin?"

Ginny nodded, giggling. "I even know –"

"That's quite enough!" Molly shouted, exasperated. "Let's just try to sit in silence for the rest of the journey, it's not long now… and Ron, sit still and look out of the window, there's a good boy…"

--

She hadn't shown it outwardly, but Molly resented having to pay 4 sickles to have the Knight Bus cleaned after Ron's sudden bout of travel sickness. She knew, and so did the driver that her Scourgify! had been just as effective as any potion would be, but no… and of course, the twins had not helped the situation, by proclaiming loudly what had happened for the whole bus to hear, so she had no chance of being discreet about it.

"It was green!" Fred said gleefully, as they entered Kings Cross station. "Really green! Usually it's like a yellow colour, but it was green!"

"Yes, I think we are all aware of that." Percy said, adjusting his glasses. "We all saw it."

Ron scowled, moving closer to his dad. "Wasn't my fault." He murmured, kicking at the litter on the floor some Muggle had left behind.

"Stop that Ron, walk properly." Molly said. "There are lots of people here, we don't want them to think bad of us, do we?"

As she said this, she noticed Fred and George running full speed towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten, almost knocking over an ancient looking woman in the process.

Molly sighed, and hurried after them.

--

"Now boys, be good." Arthur said, addressing the four of his sons who would be attending Hogwarts, as the magnificent red engine let off steam in the background almost drowning his voice out. "Your mother and I don't want to be receiving any letters about any misbehaviour. No trying to ride the Thestrals Charlie, not after last year… and twins – please try and stay out of trouble."

"What if trouble finds us?" George suggested innocently, wondering how long it would be before Charlie noticed that someone else was wearing his badge…

"It'll find you in a minute." Molly said; plucking the badge neatly from George's jumper and handing it back to a bemused Charlie. "Now come here, the train's leaving in a minute, and I want you all to give me a kiss…"

"Do we have to?" Fred groaned, before brushing his cheek against his mother's lips for a split second. "There. Now can we get on the train?"

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to me?" Ginny said in a small voice as Fred moved to open the carriage door.

"And me!" Ron said. "It's not fair Mum, why should we have to stay at home? Just because we're the youngest…"

"You're too young to go to Hogwarts, genius. They don't let little kids like you in, Ronniekins." George said, grinning. "But we'll send you something… maybe something from Zonko's…"

"Only third years can visit the village." Percy said. "So you two are out of luck."

"Oh yeah, we forgot that rule. Thank you for reminding us." Fred said sincerely, before turning to Ron and giving him a wink that suggested they had no intention of abiding by anything of the sort. "What would have happened if we had gone to Hogsmeade without knowing that… thank you so very much Perce…"

"You're welcome…" Percy said, obviously confused. "Now, we all must be going, it's nearly eleven. Goodbye!"

Arthur and Molly watched their two elder sons board the train, smiling and waving, before turning to the twins, who were evidently trying to sneak away from them without having to endure a hug, or even worse another kiss…

"Please try to be good." Molly pleaded, dabbing at the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

George turned to Fred, smiling.

"Yeah, we will." he said, smiling in a way that did not altogether reassure Molly, though she chose to ignore it.

"Bye-bye." Ginny said sadly, looking remarkably like her mother, weeping and waving.

"See you." The twins waved, pulling the coach door shut behind them as the whistle blew. They watched as the train began to gradually pull out of the station, as their mother tried to hold Ginny and Ron back from running alongside.

"Right." Fred said, when the train was well out of the station, and their mother's earshot. "Let's start having some fun."

--

Due to the fact that they had boarded the train late, there was absolutely nowhere to sit. Not a single compartment was free, even the one right by the toilet was filled with some surly looking sixth years. George sighed.

"We aren't going to have to stand up for the whole journey are we?" he complained.

"Looks like it." Fred replied. "Let's go find Charlie, maybe we can sit with him."

"Or just annoy him."

"That's good too."

George followed his brother along the narrow corridor, dragging his battered trunk behind him.

"Why don't they get a train that has enough seats…" he muttered under his breath, wincing every time the trunk bumped against the wall.

"I've found him!" Fred announced, puling open a door on his right. "Oh, urgh. He's kissing some girl."

"And you can shove off!" George heard, and Charlie's face emerged from around the door, a lot redder than usual. "What do you both want?"

"There's nowhere to sit." Fred said innocently, craning his neck to look around Charlie and at the embarrassed looking girl who was blushing as hard as Charlie was. "So, what's going on in here?"

"I was showing Violet my badge." Charlie said, his fists clenched. "Now go away."

"But we can't, there's nowhere to bloody sit!" George said. "You've got spare seats in there, oh look, there's two of them. Can we come in or not?"

"Let them in Charlie." Another voice said, and the twins noticed another girl, who looked just as disgusted as the twins felt. "Come on, they're your brothers right? Plus, I think you deserve it after sitting there snogging my best friend right in front of me for the past ten minutes."

Charlie scowled at the girl, who had now stood up to introduce herself. The twins noticed straight away that this girl was definitely not ordinary. For one thing, her hair was a bright shade of magenta.

"Hi!" Fred said, smiling. "I'm Fred –"

"- and I'm George."

"Tonks." The girl said, grinning back. "Now come in, or you'll get in the way, the witch with the trolley's trying to get past. She doesn't need anything else holding her back after her mishap over the summer, my mum told me about it, not very nice…"

The twins obeyed, and with Charlie's reluctant help, managed to steer their luggage through the compartment door and stow it safely in the overhead racks. George then headed for the seat by the window, whereas Fred paused for a second, and then seated himself between Charlie and Violet, who looked just about ready to burst into tears or murder him. Or both.

"Merlin…" Charlie muttered, before shooting Violet an apologetic glance.

"Nice one." Tonks said, gesturing to Fred. "Which one are you again? Sorry, I'm terrible with names as it is…"

"Fred."

"Ah, cool. I wish I was a twin. I wish I had a brother or sister at least. But nope, my mum said after me, one kid was enough… I think it was a bit of a shock for her when I was born with turquoise hair to be honest. I'm a Metomorphmagus in case you were wondering. I can change what I look like, it's great."

"No it's not, it's bloody annoying." Charlie replied, obviously having given up on trying to communicate with his mortified girlfriend, who seemingly had taken to staring out of the window blankly. "Try finding her in a packed corridor when she's changed her appearance just to piss you off… I never know which one she is."

The conversation continued throughout the rest of the journey, and by the end, even Violet had begun to join in. Fred and George deduced that she was a fifth year, and had been regularly owling Charlie over the summer, but mysteriously, he hadn't replied as often as she would have liked…

We can have some fun with this, Fred thought, knowing that his twin was thinking the exact same thing. Maybe some blackmail… yeah, some nice blackmail, nothing heavy, to start the school year off with. But on the other hand, they liked the look of Tonks. Fred quite frankly could not understand why Charlie was interested in Violet, and not her best friend. And yes, it was true that neither he not George were remotely interested in girls, not yet anyway, but… Tonks was funny, and chatty, and he supposed, quite pretty. And it was also pretty obvious that Charlie thought it too, from the looks he was giving her when Violet wasn't paying attention.

Interesting. Very interesting.

--

"How long till we get there?" Fred moaned, idly playing with his chocolate frog wrapper. "We've been stuck on this train for ages…"

"Not long I reckon." Charlie answered, setting down the book he had been leafing through. "Actually, we should probably change into our robes. Just put them on over your clothes."

The twins watched as Charlie, Tonks and Violet pulled their regulation black robes over their Muggle clothes, and reached up to their trunks to follow suit. George was the first to reach his, and quickly slipped his on.

"Aw, they're too long." He said. "Stupid lanky Bill."

"I got Charlie's, so mine fit." Fred said, laughing. "You look like an idiot George. I bet you can't even walk in them."

"Oh, come here." Violet said, still avoiding eye contact. "Let me shorten them, I'm good at these sorts of spells."

The twins watched as she waved her wand, muttered something, and George's robes shrank slightly.

"When I learn magic properly," Fred thought out loud "I am going to be good at spells that aren't as crappy and boring as that one. No offence meant."

Violet stayed silent for the rest of the journey.

--

"Firs'-years! Firs'- years over here! Alright Charlie! These your brothers then?"

"Alright Hagrid? Yep, unfortunately. Fred and George. I'd watch out if I were you."

"Will do." The giant man said, waving enthusiastically at the twins.

"Are you a giant?" came a voice from behind them, and Fred turned around to see a boy who was obviously a first year like them, with black dreadlocks and a look of utter shock on his face.

"Um, well." Hagrid replied. "Now, come on you lot. Firs'- years over here!"

"Whoa," said the boy as he watched the huge man leave along with Fred and George. "That's some big man."

"Tell me about it." Fred said. "How tall would you say he was? Like eleven foot?"

"Nah, I'd say taller!" the boy said. "At least fifteen…"

"Oh shut up." A girl with lots of little black plaits said, and George wondered where she had appeared from. "He isn't that tall."

"Yeah, course he is! I'm Lee by the way. Lee Jordan."

"Fred and George Weasley." Fred answered. He turned to the girl. "And you are?"

"Angelina Johnson." She replied. "So, what house do you want?"

"I don't mind." Fred replied. "As long as it's not Slytherin. Or Hufflepuff. Or Ravenclaw."

"So I guess that's Gryffindor then." Angelina said, laughing. "What about you George?"

"Yeah, same." George said. "All of our brothers so far have been Gryffindors anyway. And our mum and dad."

"That's a dead cert then," said Lee, who had finally finished gazing at Hagrid in awe. "It usually runs in families, doesn't it?"

"Sometimes it doesn't." Angelina mused, fiddling with her hair. "My dad was a Ravenclaw, and my mum a Gryffindor, so what does that make me?"

"It makes you a Gryffinclaw." George joked.

"Okay…" Fred said, breaking the silence that had followed. "I apologise for my brother's terrible jokes."

"It wasn't that bad…" George said, feeling his face redden slightly.

"Um, yeah it was mate." Lee laughed. "It's one of those so bad it's good things."

"Um, guys?" Angelina said, seemingly ignoring the exchange that was going on. "We kind of need to get in the boats now. They'll end up leaving without us."

"Oh bollocks." Fred said. "I'm not missing out on Hogwarts when we're already bloody here."

The twins followed Angelina and Lee down a dark path towards a black lake. All joking aside, Fred was now feeling extremely nervous. It was all very well joking (badly) about what house they'd end up in, but when it came to it… what if he got in Hufflepuff? Or, even worse, if he was sorted into Gryffindor, but George wasn't so lucky?

"Charlie was definitely lying when he said we had to fight a dragon, right?" George said into the echoing silence as they marched through an ominous thicket of trees.

"I hope so." Fred said. "Charlie's got dragons on the brain."

"Oh will you two please be quiet?" a haughty looking boy with dirty looking blonde hair said, turning round to glare at them. Fred noticed he looked almost as pale as he felt.

"Why?" George said.

"Because some of us want to have some peace and quiet before we reach the castle." The boy replied.

"What's your name then?" Fred answered, feeling more and annoyed by the second. Yes, some of them wanted peace and quiet, but he wasn't one of them, was he?

"Pucey. Adrian Pucey."

Fred heard George sniggering beside him.

"Ah yes, Adrian. Well, we will try to keep it down, what with all the dreadful noise we are making by whispering. We need to prepare for fighting the Sorting Dragon after all."

Fred watched Adrian's jaw drop in fear, laughing to himself.

"Pucey. More like Pukey." George said quietly, when the boy in question was out of earshot.

Fred laughed, but took care not to be too loud. He didn't want to disturb anyone after all.

--

The journey in the boats was rather uneventful, to Fred's dismay. He'd hoped to get put in a boat with his new friend Adrian Pucey, with the hope of maybe nudging him over the side into the arms of the giant squid. But alas, it was not to be. Instead, George had been placed with Adrian, Angelina and another boy who looked like he was about to be violently seasick, whereas Fred was with Lee, and two other girls, who introduced themselves as Patricia Stimpson and Alicia Spinnet.

"Push him!" Fred mouthed to George, who nodded. Fred watched as George yawned, stretched in an exaggerated fashion and nudged Pucey slightly, so that he toppled and missed falling into the black water by an inch.

"Whoops." George said, as Angelina laughed loudly. Fred smiled, giving George the thumbs-up, and turned to join Lee and Alicia's conversation about Quidditch.

"I hope I can get on the house team." Alicia joined in. "I've practised with my brothers."

"I hate Quidditch." The girl next to her said, obviously close to tears. Whether it was because of her clearly traumatic Quidditch memories or the nervousness of starting a new school Fred couldn't work out. "I played it once and got hit by a Bludger. It really hurt."

"You obviously didn't have a good Beater then." Fred said, hiding his amusement. "Me and George, that's my brother, have been practising. Mainly using our other brother Percy's things, of course. We'll get on the team next year, that's for sure."

"I'm not too into Quidditch myself." Lee said. "I'm crap at it really. I like watching it, but I can't play it."

"Aw, you're missing out!" Alicia said, grinning, and Fred could tell that Quidditch was something she really enjoyed. "Just try, it's so much fun."

"I did try, and I hated it." Patricia Stimpson said in the same morose tone as before.

"Alright, cheer up a bit." Alicia grumbled. "Look, we're here now."

"Oh no…" Patricia said, and Fred noticed that her face was incredibly white. "I want to go home…"

And Fred thought he maybe agreed with her a bit on that one.

--

As the boats docked, Fred managed to find George again and the two of them followed the rest of the students through a passageway in the rock up to where the castle was situated. This time, no-one at all talked. It was as if everyone was thinking too loudly inside their own heads, and didn't want to speak for this very reason. George himself was so worried he could barely walk straight, and was replying on the throng of people to keep him moving in the right direction.

"Good luck," came a voice from his right, and he turned to see Angelina smiling at him.

"You too." He replied, squinting as the passageway opened up onto an expanse of grass in the shadow of the castle. "I hope you get put where you want."

"I know...,"she said, and George noticed she was biting her nails. "Gryffinclaw, right?"

"Gryffinclaw." George echoed, as they continued through a pair of large double doors.

And there they were, in the Great Hall. George had only imagined what it was like… and it had never come anywhere close to the reality. Candles floated in mid air above tables that seemed too long to really exist, and the ceiling was so high it seemed it wasn't there, thanks to the stars and moons that George could see above him. It was unreal… and what made it all the more amazing was that every eye in the room seemed to be on him, on the rest of the new arrivals… he felt completely overwhelmed.

Glancing at Fred, who seemed just as mesmerised, George swallowed, and went to line up with the rest of the first-years.

"This is it," he heard Lee whisper. "Like McGonagall said, we're gonna get sorted. What do we have to do, you reckon?"

"Something to do with that hat." Fred replied, realisation washing over him that he had never really found out what did happen.

And as he spoke, the Hat started to sing.

"What the –" George heard himself saying, as the brim of the hat opened and song began to stream out. "What is it..."

"Shut up and listen to what it's saying," A disgruntled looking Adrian Pucey said, and George thought that this time, he would listen to what he had to say.

As the song finished, the whole hall erupted in applause, as a collective sigh of relief emitted from every first year.

"We just have to try the Hat on…" Alicia said; her face pink. "I thought we'd have to do something really scary…"

"Me too." Fred said. "I'm so glad-"

"Now, when I call your name," Professor McGonagall said sharply, looking straight at Fred, who instantly felt that it was now the time to shut up, "you will try on the hat and be sorted into your house. Ackton, Aaron?"

A skinny boy with brown hair stumbled towards the stool, looking remarkably like a startled owl. He placed the hat upon his head, and after a few short seconds –

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat said, and the table adorned with blue and bronze burst into enthusiastic applause. The twins clapped along too, as Aaron scurried off to sit with the rest of his house.

"Barker, Mandy?"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"We'll be last then." George said, as he watched Bradley, Michael be sorted into Ravenclaw. "If it's alphabetical…"

"So we have to wait?" Fred said. "I'm dying over here."

"Me too." George said, feeling his stomach squirm in a very unpleasant way. "Can't they just hurry up, I feel sick…"

"Me too." Lee said.

"Me three." Angelina added.

"Diggory, Cedric?"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"There haven't been any Gryffindors yet then." George said. "Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe there's more chance of us getting it if there aren't any others this year."

"Hopefully." Fred replied.

"Fife, Anna?"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Oh damn it."

--

The twins had definitely not been reassured by Anna Fife's placement, and were certainly unnerved when Lee, Angelina, Alicia, Patricia and many more were Sorted into Gryffindors.

"I hope they don't have a quota they have to fill or anything." Fred said worriedly, as they watched a scary looking boy called Warrington head over to the Slytherin table, amid thunderous applause. "Otherwise we're screwed. They have practically the whole year in Gryffindor."

"Just as long as it's not Slytherin." George said, chewing on his lip. "I am not sharing a dorm with Pukey over there. We should have guessed he'd end up there, I mean, look at him -"

"Weasley, Fred?"

"Oh crap." Fred said to no-one in particular, and made his way towards the stool, stealing a look back at George, who looked as scared as he felt. Crossing his fingers surreptitiously, he lowered himself onto the stool and put the battered looking hat on his head.

"Weasley eh?" the hat said, and Fred found himself clinging to the notion that being a Weasley would guarantee him a place in Gryffindor. "You're very different to the last one I had to sort, very different indeed. You like to have fun, that much is certain, and you're always making people laugh. But you have a good heart and a good deal of bravery and fight in you… a future hero, that much is certain. Of course then, it has to be GRYFFINDOR!"

Fred felt himself deflate slightly, as he replaced the hat and ran towards the Gryffindor table, where he found Charlie had saved a space for him.

"Cheers," he said, slightly out of breath. "I knew I'd get Gryffindor, wasn't worried at all…"

He didn't notice Charlie glance at Percy and nod in a sarcastic manner behind his back.

Meanwhile, George had been biting his lip so hard he could taste blood.

"Weasley, George?"

George strode over to the stool, in a vain attempt to hide how much he was shaking. He felt his hands shake as he reached for the hat and jammed it so hard onto his head it hurt. He couldn't see, but at least now he wouldn't be able to see everyone staring at him.

"Oh, twins, I see," he heard the hat say. "I expect you'll want to go in the same house as your brother… but you would belong there, that's sure. You are also courageous, and full of inner power, and loyalty towards those you care about… it seems you would do anything to protect those you love… and you too are a future hero… so of course, GRYFFINDOR!"

George sighed with relief in almost the exact same fashion as his brother, and headed for the Gryffindor table where he could see Fred and Charlie applauding loudly, out of their seats. He noticed Percy was also clapping, but in a more reserved fashion. Obviously.

"Nice one," said Lee, who motioned for George to sit next to him. "We'll be sharing a dorm now, us, Fred, and this is Kenneth, and Jamie."

"Hi." George said to the two boys Lee was referring to.

"Got some great looking Gryffindors this year." A burly looking boy seated next to Percy said. "Should be able to get a pretty good Quidditch team together in a few years."

"Yeah, me and George play Beater," Fred said. "You'll let us on, right? Our brother's Captain after all…"

"It's not as if he mentions it every bloody two seconds…" the boy said.

"Just because you wish it was you Wood." Charlie retorted, and Fred noticed he was trying to catch the eye of Violet, who was sat at the Hufflepuff table… or was it Tonks he was trying to get a look at… he couldn't tell…

"True, true, I won't deny that." Wood replied, laughing. "Just you wait Weasley. Your time'll be up soon, and I'll lead them all to victory."

"He's deadly serious, isn't he?" Fred hissed to George, who nodded. "A bit mental I'd say."

"I'm not going to disagree there…" George said, as they watched the last few people be sorted. "I'm a tad scared, myself."

--

Fred didn't think he'd ever eaten as much as he did at the feast, and he'd even grown up with Molly Weasley as a mother. Steak, chicken, pork chops… Yorkshire pudding, five different kinds of gravy… and mint humbugs of course. Laying on his bed in their new dormitory, he groaned and rolled over to face George, who looked to be in a similar state.

"You know when you've eaten so much you can't move…" Fred said, trailing off.

"Yep." George said simply. "Ugh, why did I have those two extra sausages…? I don't even like sausages…actually, chuck me those Every-Flavour Beans there."

Fred obliged, throwing the packet neatly across the room. George caught it deftly, and placed the first bean from the packet in his mouth, before promptly spitting it out into his hand.

"Spinach?" Fred said, trying not to laugh.

"Nope," George said, his face screwed up in disgust. "I think… no, I'm sure… that was bogey flavoured, that was."

"It was not."

"You want to try it?" George said, holding out the half chewed bean to his twin.

"No thanks." Fred said. "Maybe later. Anyway, where'd Lee go?"

"Common Room." George answered, still evidently trying to rid the bean's flavour from his mouth. "With Kenneth and Jamie, and the girls too I reckon. They said they were writing their letters home…"

"Losers." Fred said, but then thought for a second. "Actually, we should probably write one. Mum'll be going crazy. So will Ginny too. And Ron."

"Get some parchment out then." George said, yawning. "All this food's making me sleepy."

Fred pulled out a battered piece of parchment from the trunk under his bed, and a quill that had once been Percy's.

"What do I even write?" he said.

"Not about Pukey." George said, smirking. "Something tells me she wouldn't think it was funny. Although it was. Did you see his face when he thought he was going to fall in… priceless. Angelina was laughing too. But Mum… not so much."

"Ron would though." Fred said, carefully printing 'Dear Mum' at the top of the letter.

"We'd get Howlers if we did." George replied. "The last thing she said to us was to behave ourselves."

"Since when do we listen to Mum…" Fred smiled. "Right, I'll write that we both got Gryffindor, and who we're sharing a dorm with, and about Angelina and Alicia, she'll like that, fixing us up with them in her mind. I'll write something about the food for Ron, and I'll tell him about the apparently bogey flavoured bean, he'll like that. And erm, that's it then?"

"You aren't going to put how much we miss her motherly embrace?"

"You want me to?"

George laughed,

"Nah, but put that we miss her, that'll make her happy."

Fred nodded, and began to write the letter. Neither twin acknowledged that in fact, they did miss her, and their dad, and their siblings, and their home in general…

"How long till Christmas?" George said into the silence, as Fred signed their names at the bottom of the letter.

"Dunno." Fred said. "Nearly three months."

"Oh." George said. "Right."

Silence followed.

Sensing his brother falling into a more sombre mood, Fred jumped up from the bed, slipping the letter into an envelope as he went.

"Come on," he said, pulling George up from the bed. "Let's get Lee in here and plan a prank on Pukey. I'm thinking some kind of embarrassing hex, one that'll make him look even uglier than he is already. Maybe a fur growing charm…"

"I'm liking that idea." George said, brightening.

Hogwarts was going to be fun.

--

A few days later, Molly Weasley noticed Errol flying erratically towards the kitchen. Sighing, she walked over to where he had dropped, exhausted, and detached the crumpled envelope from his leg.

Sliding the letter out, she felt herself smile as she recognised the handwriting.

"_Dear Mum and Dad, and Ron and Ginny too,_

_We hope you aren't too worried about your precious baby twins going off to Hogwarts, but don't worry we're fine. We're in Gryffindor, what a surprise, and it's pretty good because we have Charlie and Percy obviously, and we're sharing with some really great guys. We've made a couple of friends too; Lee, Kenneth, a splendid chap called Adrian Pucey, and of course, a few girls… Angelina and Alicia. We're planning on announcing our engagements any day now, me to Alicia, and George to Angelina of course. The food here's great, in fact, I think I've eaten too much… good training for when we get home at Christmas I suppose. They do really nice pork chops here! Not as nice as yours of course. And on the subject of food, George apparently got a bogey flavoured Every-Flavour Bean. Fun all round. We miss you lot, and look forward to seeing you at Christmas, but not that much of course because it's great here. _

_From Fred and George."_

Molly sighed, and put the letter aside to show Arthur when he got home. Ignoring the shouts of Ron and Ginny as they "played nicely" in the garden, she went to sit down in her favourite chair and think.

In many ways, Fred and George were incredibly lucky. Yes, they came as a package, which had to be difficult sometimes, but Molly herself envied their closeness. They seemed to know what each other was thinking, and although their personalities could be, at times somewhat different, they always managed to complement each other perfectly. She wished that when she had departed for Hogwarts that she had been able to have someone with her, someone who was going through the same thing, someone who she was already close with… she couldn't believe she envied her sons for this, she thought, shaking her head sadly.

But one thing was for sure… she didn't know what she would do without either of them. She would never have wished them away, no matter how much they got on her nerves, no matter how many letters she would receive from the school in the future… when they set up that damn joke shop…

Molly Weasley was incredibly proud of her sons.


End file.
